Mexico Violence Resource Project 2/6

Promoting nuanced analysis and creative insights

The Mexico Violence Resource Project provides information, analysis, research, and resources for understanding violence and organized crime in Mexico. This collaborative effort gives policymakers, journalists, and scholars the tools to develop deeper understandings and smarter solutions.

Latest Perspectives

A Phantom Line: Reflections on the Dark Side of the State-Crime Dynamic

The modern Mexican state is the result of a dynamic relationship between authorities and organized crime: the dividing line is an illusion.

Justice, Colonialism, and the Illusion of the Narcostate

In the indigenous communities of the Sierra Tarahumara, drug traffickers are increasingly involved in matters of order and justice.

Cartels, Control, and Communicating the Reality of Tamaulipas

Few places are as central to the history of Mexico’s contemporary violence as Tamaulipas. It was in Tamaulipas where old-school drug...

"Sinaloa is not Guerrero": Illicit Production, Licit Agribusiness

How does opium gum extracted in the Sierra of Sinaloa makes its way to consumers in neighborhoods in the U.S.?

A Phantom Line: Reflections on the Dark Side of the State-Crime Dynamic

The modern Mexican state is the result of a dynamic relationship between authorities and organized crime: the dividing line is an illusion.

Justice, Colonialism, and the Illusion of the Narcostate

In the indigenous communities of the Sierra Tarahumara, drug traffickers are increasingly involved in matters of order and justice.

Cartels, Control, and Communicating the Reality of Tamaulipas

Few places are as central to the history of Mexico’s contemporary violence as Tamaulipas. It was in Tamaulipas where old-school drug...

EL ACARREO

January 9, 2023

Black Thursday II and the Arrest of Ovidio Guzman

In a pre-dawn operation on January 5, Mexican army forces captured Ovidio Guzmán López, unleashing a wave of violence across the entire state of Sinaloa. The terror mimicked the events of October 17, 2019, when blockades and shootouts in Culiacán forced security forces to release Guzmán López after briefly detaining him.